In catastrophic situations, such as earthquakes, fires, explosions, and, particularly military situations, such as actual battlefield combat, the removal of injured or wounded personnel is often restricted or curtailed by the lack of sufficient manpower to carry the injured from the scene of the emergency to where they may obtain medical treatment. Similarly, in sports such as skiing, an accident may occur at a relatively inaccessible location, and removing the injured person becomes a definite problem.
Heretofore, such devices as stretchers, body boards, and Stokes baskets have been used to remove the patient from the scene. In the case of stretchers and body boards, at least two, and preferably four, people are required to transport the stretcher or board and the patient. The Stokes basket is usually lifted and transported by a helicopter, for example, or, when used at sea, by an arrangement similar to a breeches buoy, for transfer between ships. Obviously, none of these is completely satisfactory since sufficient personnel may not be available to carry the litter (by "litter" is meant any of the various devices, including stretchers, body boards, Stokes baskets, and the like) or a helicopter or other lifting means may not be available. In addition, the degree and type of trauma is often determinative of the type of litter to be used, and hence the means of transporting. Thus severe back or neck injuries, for example, almost invariably require a body board to immobilize the patient, thus further requiring sufficient personnel to transport the board and patient.
In most cases heretofore, then, there have been, or there exists the possibility of problems in evacuating the litter and patient from the scene, which problems are compounded when the scene is in a remote area difficult to access.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide transportation for a patient regardless of the type of litter.
It is another object of the invention to provide such transportation without requiring numerous personnel or other means, such as helicopters or other lifting means for removing the patient or otherwise readily deliverable.
It is still another object of the invention to overcome the problems of remote or otherwise inaccessible locales by being air-dropable, for example.